2018 Eclipse Awards: Stormy Liberal

If there were an Eclipse Award category for turf sprinters, voters would not have had to look beyond Stormy Liberal, who scored a repeat victory in the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint. Instead, Stormy Liberal is an Eclipse Award finalist in both the male sprint and male turf divisions.

While it is rare for a turf sprinter to be recognized as an Eclipse finalist in the male sprint division and unprecedented in the male turf category, the four-race win streak Stormy Liberal put together to end his season put him over the top.

Stormy Liberal, who is trained by Peter Miller, closed his 6-year-old campaign with five-furlong wins in an optional-claiming race and the Green Flash Handicap at Del Mar, the about 6 1/2-furlong Eddie D at Santa Anita, and the 5 1/2-furlong Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint at Churchill Downs.

His margins of victory were a nose, a nose, a head, and a neck, which total to about a half-length.

:: 2018 Eclipse Finalists: Profiles and photos for all categories

“He knows where the wire is,” Miller said. “He has tremendous heart.”

Stormy Liberal’s desire to win was never more evident than in the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint. He moved up to engage front-running World of Trouble entering the stretch, and the two battled eye to eye to the finish before Stormy Liberal prevailed in the final jumps. The race was run in 1:04.05 over yielding ground. Stormy Liberal earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 119, the highest ever awarded in a turf race.

“People always talk about the best races of the year, and I’m a little prejudiced, but to me that was one of them,” Miller said. “Neither horse deserved to lose, and it was 7 1/4 lengths back to third in a 5 1/2-furlong turf race. You just don’t see that.”

But last season was not all sunshine and roses for Stormy Liberal, who is owned by Gary Hartunian’s Rockingham Ranch and David Bernsen. Following his 2017 Breeders’ Cup victory, he was sent to Sha Tin Racecourse for the Group 1, $2.3 million Hong Kong Sprint, in which he finished 11th of 13 runners.

“The race was a disaster,” Miller said. “He bled and never picked his feet up. He was just not himself.”

The Hong Kong hangover may have played a role in Stormy Liberal losing his first three races of 2018.

He began the season with a runner-up effort in the Grade 3 Daytona at Santa Anita in February. He then traveled to Dubai for the Group 1 Al Quoz Sprint, a straight-course six-furlong race in which he finished second, beaten a half-length, after having to alter course to go inside a rival.

Miller next shipped Stormy Liberal to Belmont Park for the Grade 2 Jaipur. He wound up sixth, beaten two lengths.

“He had a rough tussle in that one,” Miller said. “He had some traffic problems and he had done a lot of traveling in the months before the race.”

Miller dropped Stormy Liberal into an optional-claiming race at Del Mar and gave Drayden Van Dyke the mount for his next start in July, and he went undefeated the rest of the year.

On Jan. 1, Stormy Liberal finished second in the Grade 3 Joe Hernandez at Santa Anita, a race Miller said was “just a bridge to Dubai” and a return appearance in the Al Quoz Sprint, which has had its purse doubled to $2 million.

The season’s ultimate goal is a three-peat in the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint, which will be run Nov. 2 at Santa Anita.

“Stormy Liberal has a fantastic record down the hill,” Miller said of the 7-year-old gelded son of Stormy Atlantic who is 15-8-5-0 over the course.

Stormy Liberal was bred by Dapple Bloodstock & Gryphon Investments LLC. He was a $100,000 purchase at an Ocala Breeders’ Sale Co. auction in June 2014. Rockingham Ranch claimed him for $40,000 in October 2016.